What Dennis McDonald lacks in experience as a public servant, he more than makes up for with ambition, which can be a treasured virtue. Unfortunately, Dennis McDonald’s ambition to rise from his current post as a hyper-partisan, double-talking party boss leads him to make statements that are politically convenient rather than truthful or accurate.
When McDonald was merely the chairman of the Montana Democratic Party, he described himself to a reporter as “way partisan.” Now that he’s decided to run for Congress, McDonald says that Montanans want to elect someone who will “roll up their sleeves and solve problems, rather than simply engage in partisan politics.” Montanans should find it interesting that just days after rejecting partisan politics and announcing his intention to run for office, McDonald penned an attack piece, equally notable for its partisan tone and total absence of solutions. This is only the beginning of what is sure to become many instances when the truth takes a back seat to political convenience for the aspirations of the double-talking party boss.
It was convenient to accuse fifth-generation Montana rancher Denny Rehberg of failing to support an increase in the minimum wage, but it’s simply not true because Congressman Rehberg has voted to increase the minimum wage (Roll Call Votes 425, July 26, 2006 & 424, May 24, 2007). It was convenient to write that Rehberg “sold out to Wall Street” when the record shows he voted against the massive financial bailout of Wall Street (Roll Call Vote 681, Oct 3, 2008) while Democrat Senator Baucus voted for the bailout after taking almost a $1 million in campaign contributions from financial institutions, including AIG.
With no experience in public office, McDonald has no voting record to scrutinize. To understand his carefree relationship with the truth, Montanans will need to look at how McDonald made his living, including his work as a trial lawyer in San Francisco. This record reveals McDonald’s professional and personal relationship with an admitted killer and does not exhibit the kind of judgment Montanans expect of any elected official.
Notorious mob boss and admitted hit man Jimmy “The Weasel” Fratianno needed a lawyer to beat charges of tax evasion. Just two years out of law school, McDonald took the job and was able to get Jimmy the Weasel off the hook by claiming that the mob boss was bankrupt. And so began a 13-year relationship in which the professional line between attorney and client was all but erased.
While McDonald makes the convenient claim that Jimmy the Weasel was “just another client,” the truth is told in the book “Vengeance is Mine” where McDonald is described as one of Fratianno’s “only sources of companionship,” and that the two had become “fast friends.” McDonald entertained the admitted murderer in his own home, where the two men played checkers and watched football.
It is convenient for McDonald to tell a story in which he was instrumental in convincing Fratianno to work with the FBI to bring down the underworld crime organization. The truth is that his client didn’t even consult him before contacting the FBI and ordered McDonald to wait in the hall while he brokered the deal.
McDonald’s relationship with a murdering crime boss and his carelessness with the truth may have been convenient for him as a lawyer for the mob. But now he is asking Montanans to cast their votes for him despite a record of questionable judgment and convenient dishonesty.
When asked by a reporter why he was running, McDonald answered that he wanted to rid Washington of Montana’s final Republican representative.
What he doesn’t understand is that Montanans don’t care if someone is a Republican or a Democrat. What Montanans want is someone who will give them a fair shake and an honest answer. And that’s the truth.
Liane Johnson is chairwoman of the Montana Republican Party